On the Astros: Johnson solves power outage in career-best game

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Chris Johnson isn’t at the top level of his chosen profession because he can hit for average, though at times he can. He’s not here because he can field or throw or run or walk.

He’s in the big leagues because he can hit baseballs out of baseball parks, and on Wednesday, in his 91st plate appearance of the season, he finally hit one out. Then in his 92nd, he hit another one out.

Johnson didn’t stop his career day there. He finished 4-for-4 with two home runs and a career-high six RBIs in the Astros’ 8-1 victory over the New York Mets at Minute Maid Park. It gave the Astros their first series sweep of the season.

He called it the best game of his career and one he will always remember — his first multi-homer game as a big leaguer. The third baseman knew he needed one like that.

“My average was all right,” said Johnson, a .279 hitter before the game and a .311 hitter after it. “It was just looking up and seeing that zero in that column, especially for a guy at third base who’s supposed to drive in runs and hit for power. The power was there in spring training, so it was a little bit frustrating, but there was no panic. It was just working on my approach mainly.”

He has drawn only three bases on balls (including an intentional pass) this year, but he thought his at-bats were getting better.

The payoff came with a three-run homer to the Crawford Boxes in the second inning and a 414-foot blast to left in the third off Mets rookie Chris Schwinden. And not a day too soon, as Johnson was starting to hear about it.

“He’s a guy that needs to hit homers,” leadoff man Jordan Schafer said, going on to mention his good-natured teasing. “When I’m not supposed to hit homers and I have more than him, I’m going to give him a hard time about it.”

Problem solved. Home run race tied 2-2.

Lefty lowers ERA

The biggest beneficiary of the six RBIs was Wandy Rodriguez, who breezed through seven innings, pitching most of them with a big lead.

If Johnson’s performance was a breakout, Rodriguez is already well broken in. The lefthander (3-2) allowed one run on six hits over his afternoon, lowering his ERA to 1.64, and said he really benefited from the Astros’ second early 5-0 lead in two games.

“When I see a score like that, I feel very, very comfortable,” Rodriguez said.

Not all of the big score was Johnson’s making. After all, RBIs aren’t as individual a statistic as the box score setup would seem to indicate.

Don’t overlook Lowrie

It’s no coincidence the RBIs came with Johnson hitting two spots behind Jed Lowrie.

Lowrie continued to get on base at an outstanding rate, with hits in each of the innings in which Johnson had an RBI. The shortstop is now hitting .329 with a .427 on-base percentage and a .500 slugging percentage.

Whether Lowrie has been setting the table at the top of the order or, as was the case Wednesday, from the No. 5 spot for the day’s breakout star hitting seventh, there have been plenty of RBIs to go around.

Johnson stepped up and took them, which was exactly what he and the Astros needed.

zachary.levine@chron.com
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Astros 8, Mets 1

Tipping point: Again it was a pair of early home runs as the Astros totally flipped everything on their home run trends. Outhomered 26-13 entering the series, they hit five in the sweep of the Mets and didn’t allow any.

On the mound: Brad Mills complimented Wandy Rodriguez’s ability to get back on track even after momentary lapses. The lefty made quick work of the Mets, averaging 3.2 pitches per plate appearance.

At the plate: The bottom of the order brought it, with the 4-8 spots having 13 of the 15 hits. Jed Lowrie, Brian Bogusevic, Chris Johnson and Jason Castro had consecutive hits in the second inning, and they did it again in the fifth, following Carlos Lee’s single for five straight hits.

Under the radar: One sign of a well-pitched game came in the number of assists second baseman Jose Altuve had. As Rodriguez got grounder after grounder, Altuve racked up nine assists, the most by an Astros second baseman since Matt Kata in a 2009 game.